Continuing the expoloration of ways to treat varroa without resorting to
the usual plethotra of chemical interventions and other methods.
The bees may have an in house (hive) solution that certainly needs more consideration.
It has been discussed previously on the forum but I find this paper to be offering (to quote the authors) "the applicability for propolis as treatment against bee pathogens and diseases."

Propolis and bee health: the natural history and significance
of resin use by honey bees.
Michael Simone-Finstrom, Marla Spivak. Apidologie 41 (2010) 295–311
The paper is free!

Last edited by Vallee on Tue Nov 02, 2010 5:26 pm; edited 1 time in total

What about scarring firs, pines or poplars to collect fresh resin, dissolve it in honey and stir in some molten wax? To produce some sort of propolis you can use to paint the hive with or to use it like grease patties?

We have a sitka spruce that exudes quite a lot of resin and is about 10m from the hive, so quite a good source for the bees for resin collection. "Bleeding" resin in this tree species is sometimes an indication of drought stress.
In "Bees and Beekeeping" by Eva Crane there is a section on plant material collected as propolis. She also includes a table of plants reported to be sources of propolis collected by honeybees. I am sure information on how plants produce resin is available on the www. But here is a short piece which might interest Bernhard!, by A. Fahn from her/his book "Secretory Tissues in Plants":
"From secretory epidermal cells of the leaf buds, for instance in poplars, the secreted material is first eliminated into a space between the outer walls of the palisade cells and the cuticle covering them, forming a blister. Later the cuticle bursts and the secreted material collects between the leaves and stipules of the bud. Glandular trichomes (hairs) of species of Alnus secrete a substance containing flavonoid aglycones, terpenes and mucilage".
Plants have many chemical defences that act as repellents for use as defence mechanisms against herbivory.
I need to give time to thinking about other aspects, including looking at a paper dealing with an analysis of bud exudate

On the sources of plant exudates in propolis. Poplar bud exudates, together with varying amounts of wax and sugar added by the bees. Horse chesnut bud exudates and various species of conifer have their own compositions which are very different from those of poplar.
Lot of information on composition and plant origins from work at Oxford by Greenaway et al.
A paper in Apidologie 33 (2002) 41-50 The varroacidal action of propolis: a laboratory assay Garedew et al. is worth looking at.

Also in JAR Vol. 49 (3) pp. 257-264 Evaluation of the toxicity of a propolis extract on Varroa destructor (Acari: Varroidae) and Apis mellifera (Hymenoptera: Apidae). Damiani et al.
Here is the Abstract.
"The effects of a propolis extract on Varroa destructor and Apis mellifera were evaluated by three different application methods: topical, spraying and oral. A propolis sample was extracted and its organoleptic and physic-chemically traits characterized. These analyses showed that it was a typical propolis from the Pampean region in Argentina, with elevated contents of biologically active compounds. Topical application was carried out by subjecting mites to contact with various propolis concentrations for different periods of time, which resulted in mortality and narcosis. Acaricidal effects were stronger with increasing concentrations of the propolis extracts. Spraying infested bees with a 10% propolis solution was harmless for bees but killed 78% of mites. Feeding infested bees with propolis extract in sugar syrup was not toxic to the mites but caused the death of bees treated with the highest concentration. Our results suggest that the propolis extracts from the Pampean Region could be incorporated into bee colonies by spraying, although the appropriate doses and concentrations to be administered, and the mechanism of action of the extracts on the mites are still to be elucidated."
Please take note: "Appropriate doses and concentration are still to be elucidated."

I enjoyed looking at the pictures of the museum and the collecting of resin.
The tree they are taking the resin from looks looks like some sort of pinus.
I will be looking through my book on plant resins with much more interest now.
Thanks.

So I went out for some resin collection at the weekend. I did not prepare anything but just intended to collect natural resin as it is produced by the trees. (The bees collect it the same way, without cutting or peeling the trees.)

The first resin I found right in front of my house in my garden - at a very old cherry tree.

The resin is virtually squeezed out of the tree.

The resin also looked like bark, so you need a closer look to see it.

Thick pieces of resin were the twig was harmed by a severe storm.

This is just one tree! After ten minutes of collecting resin. That was a bit too easy.

The rest of that small container I filled with resins of firs. This resins smells pretty good.

Where the twigs are, the trees seem to weep. Even without a wound.

Cut wounds produce some more resin. (This is an old wound.)

Next time I go for the poplar trees and pine trees in my area.

This was pretty easy to collect - the container shown was full at the end of the day.

I will mix this with just a little olive oil and molten bees wax later to make a paint for the inside of the new hive bodies. Also I intend to use for swarm traps.

Bernhard

Last edited by zaunreiter on Wed Nov 26, 2014 12:37 pm; edited 1 time in total

That's one thing I've noticed about a lot of pictures of 1st season TBH's on this forum is the difference in propolis build up on hives compared to mine. I'd say mine has more. Oddly, these types of trees are not prevalent in my area. There are some in the town areas that early European settlers planted but it is mostly native gum and acacia. Maybe it's the acacia for my area, they have a tendency to excrete sap. It is one of the many aspects of beeking that has brought me joy to witness, how they use propolis to seal up their hive. Such an wonderful technology.

Apitherapy News
Bees Bring in More Propolis When Faced with Fungal Threat
Posted: 04 Apr 2012 10:00 PM PDT
Bees ‘Self-Medicate’ When Infected with Some Pathogens North Carolina State University, 3/30/2012 Newswise — Research from North Carolina State University shows that honey bees “self-medicate” when their colony is infected with a harmful fungus, bringing in increased amounts of antifungal plant resins to ward off the pathogen. “The colony is willing to expend the energy and effort of its

Erik Osterlund wrote in sweden about the importance of bees collecting biodiverse propolis. Different plants have different properties. We simply MUST start seeing bees as part of the Earth Super Organism.
Healthy nature = healthy bees
Compassionate human mind = healthy nature

The results indicated that non-tolerant colonies collected more resin than the tolerant ones. The percentage of four biologically active compounds – caffeic acid and pentenyl caffeates – was higher in propolis from tolerant colonies. The results of this study pave the way to understanding the effect of propolis in individual and social immunity of the honeybees. Further studies are needed to clarify the relationship between propolis chemical composition and honeybee colony health.
from: http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/14786419.2014.881366#.U75CArEtKM8

In this book/abstract the following is stated:
"In Asian beeswaxes, the amounts of C31 and C33 in the pool of free fatty acids are reduced, but C25 hydrocarbons are increased compared to that of A. mellifera. "

(Sounds like a very interesting book, by the way!)

C25 = Sesterterpenes
C31/C33 = Triterpenes

C31/C33/C25-hydrocarbons are terpenes, and terpenes are know to pheromones in the insect world, also are antiseptic/antimicrobial.

Terpenes can be found in resins!

So there might be a difference in the resins the bees collect in Asia and Europe. Containing different terpenes - that might affect the mites as pheromones? Just a thought.

Conserving wild bees

Research suggests that bumble bee boxes have a very low success rate in actually attracting bees into them. We find that if you create an environment where first of all you can attract mice inside, such as a pile of stones, a drystone wall, paving slabs with intentionally made cavities underneath, this will increase the success rate.

Most bumble bee species need a dry space about the size a football, with a narrow entrance tunnel approximately 2cm in diameter and 20 cm long. Most species nest underground along the base of a linear feature such as a hedge or wall. Sites need to be sheltered and out of direct sunlight.